Crane Accident Leaves Rama III Area Without Power

Residents in Bangkok’s Rama III area suffered a blackout from yesterday morning until the evening after a crane became entangled in power lines and pulled down 32 electricity poles, causing damage to four cars and a townhouse and injuring six people.

Many poles were uprooted and toppled onto the road. A taxi and a container truck were among four vehicles damaged, while the six injured were taken to Charoen Krung Pracharak Hospital.

After the blackout, power was cut off for safety reasons. The accident, at 6.30am, paralysed traffic on Rama III Road from the Nang Linchee Intersection to the Ratchadapisek Intersection.

The road section was blocked so Metropolitan Electricity Authority officials could fix the power poles and lines so electricity could be put back on by 5pm. The damaged poles were later cleared away, and traffic fully resumed after 6pm.

Crane driver Sa-nguan Kittisakon, 55, told police he was trying to position the crane, with an attached boom in an upright position, on a hill in front of Dhipaya Insurance building, which is under construction, in order to lift a generator to the 10th floor. However, the crane slipped down the hill.

Taken by surprise, and with the upright boom making it difficult for him to regain control of the vehicle, he said he was unable to prevent the crane from damaging the poles and other structures and vehicles. Sa-nguan was charged with reckless driving, and causing property damage and injury to others. He was also ordered to submit to a drug test.

Wiwat Sutthipongchai, 50, whose townhouse was damaged by a fallen power pole, said he was sleeping with his family when he heard a loud thud on the roof and saw an electricity pole had fallen onto his home. He alerted officials to evacuate his family out of fear they would be electrocuted.

Thanasit Wirojsailee, whose car was damaged, said he was driving along Rama III when he saw the crane rolling down the hill dragging power poles along with it before one pole fell onto his car. Fortunately he wasn’t injured.